


Liar

by domini_moonbeam



Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Hate Crimes, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Romance, Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:14:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domini_moonbeam/pseuds/domini_moonbeam
Summary: Blood ties have turned bad. A rift has pulled Reid and Tyler away from Caleb and Pogue. Can more trouble bring them together again? Multiple pairings, M/M, dark themes galore but always a romance.
Relationships: Caleb Danvers/Reid Garwin/Pogue Parry/Tyler Simms
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is the last of my old fics I'm moving over from another site. I wrote this one back in 2017ish.

He liked to think that the fight had started off well. He was certain that he had broken at least two noses and cracked a guy in the ribs with a solid kick. Reid liked to think just about all of his fights started off well, even when they ended badly.

It was literally his last day on the high school campus. Graduation had been predictable. His mother had even made an appearance, three hours late, but still. All of his worldly belongings were in the back of a truck and Tyler was probably waiting for him in the parking-lot on the other side of campus.

A knee to his gut doubled him over and he looked up just in time to take a fist to the cheek, throwing him all the way down to the ground where he heaved out an exhale just before a boot to his ribs tried to force out more.

Right there, with his cheek to the ground and the taste of blood in his mouth, Reid Garwin was certain that he was not going to miss high school. Not even a little bit.

This hadn't even been his fault, not that he made a habit of admitting when a fight was his fault. In the process of moving, Tyler had dropped a box that morning. It just had to be the box with the brunet's porn mags and it just had to be when the lacross team was passing by. They had been more than excited to pick them up at first- less so when greeted by some heavy man on man photography. Reid had made fun of Tyler for buying those years ago. Who bought porn? It was everywhere on the internet for free!

Before his red cheeked bestfriend could stammer out some sort of response, Reid had snatched the mag back from the jocks and thanked them for picking up his stash before the headmaster saw it.

Reid coughed and rolled onto his back, the handful of boys still on their feet around him actually high-fived one another before picking up their own wounded friends. “Job well done boys.” Reid spat blood and lifted his hand to give them the thumbs up, his right eye blurry from a sharp knuckle to his socket. “Pummeled the dick-lovin' right out of me. I officially hate my own gender,” he mumbled, rolling to his side to get up just in time to take another kick. He never was good at shutting up.

He realized that he blacked out when he opened his eyes to find a small gaggle of sophomore girls hovering over him and texting god knows who. He rolled to his knees and stood a little more shakily than he would have liked, wincing at the daylight that now had his head throbbing. Fan-fucking-tastic. “Ladies.” He rolled a hand in their direction, knuckles torn up, before walking away.

He had more or less straightened himself out by the time he reached the parking lot. He was in better shape than he expected, nothing broken, and was feeling a little arogant by the time he reached the truck. Tyler was about to lay into him about taking so long but whatever words he had practiced caught in his throat. “What the fuck?” the brunet asked, those eyes going impossibly wide.

“You get to drive,” Reid told him, tossing the keys. He decided, based on the success of his toss, that he had no eye damage either, despite one side of his face tingling and swelling against a cut on his cheekbone.

“No shit. What happened to you?” Tyler was rounding the front of the truck to come to his side, hovering as he opened the door. “Who did this?”

Reid grinned at the edge to his best friend's tone. Angry. Like he might actually do something about it. Tyler wasn't a coward, but he wasn't a fighter either. He had been in more than a handful of scuffles but he'd never started it and if he could have walked away, he would have. Tyler was reasonable. Reid thought it was cute. “Wrong side of the car, Baby Boy. Do I have to explain driving to you again?” He huffed when he got into the passenger seat, pulling down the visor to get a look at his face.

Tyler was frowning but he closed the passenger door and walked around the truck. When the engine started so did the air conditioning, cold air blowing in and making the small cuts on Reid's skin burn. He closed his eyes when the pulled off the city streets and onto the highway.

When he woke again it was dusk and the long stretch of road was winding upward toward the glow of a city. “Fuck, how long was I asleep?” He blinked and stretched. The music was on and Tyler was tapping his thumb against the steering wheel in time with it.

His friend let out a laugh, glancing at him before returning his focus to the road and merging cars into the off ramp. “Uh, at least six hours, man. You missed all the rest stops.” He grabbed a paper bag from the middle of the cab between them and tossed it into his lap.

Reid opened it to look down at a cold burger wrapped in waxy, grease stained paper. “Gee, thanks.” He put the bag back in the space between them and looked around, seeing a road sign. They were already there. “Sorry.” He yawned.

Tyler shrugged. “Don't be. The car ride goes a lot smoother when you're not making me honk at every douchebag we pass.”

Reid laughed, grabbing at the visor again to check out the state of his bruises only to find his face clean. Smooth skin and sharp cheeks. “Ty...”

“I know, I know,” his friend said almost irritably. “You haven't seen them in two years, you really want to have your face all fucked up when you finally do?”

Reid's face scrunched angrily. “The fuck do I care what my face looks like when they see it?” He was about to huff and glare angrily out the window when he twisted in his seat to look at the driver. “What do you mean see them? Why the fuck would we see them, Ty?”

Tyler held onto the steering wheel and seemed suddenly very interested in the road as they entered the city. “Hey look, I think that gym has a pool.” He nudged his chin in the direction of a building.

“Baby Boy,” Reid hissed.

“I don't know! They live in the same city. Go to the same university. Why wouldn't we see them?” he shouted defensively.

Reid frowned. Tyler only used that tone when he was up to something and trying to wiggle out of trouble. “The fuck did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“It's a big city, Ty, why would we see them?” Reid shouted. “Have you been talking to them?”

“No!” Tyler shouted back before biting his lip. “I mean, I text Po sometimes..”

Reid groaned and leaned forward to thud his forehead to the dashboard.

“We were friends,” Tyler continued to argue, trying to fill the silence with reason in hopes that it would sink in. “It was a misunderstanding, Reid.”

The blond's head popped up. “Misunderstanding?”

“Come on,” Tyler pleaded.

“He was wrong and I was right and Po fucking believed him.”

“They're best friends-”

“We were all best friends!” Reid snapped angrily.

Tyler pulled the truck into an open space in front of their new apartment building but before he could even turn off the car, Reid had opened his door and jumped out of the truck. “Where are you going?” he shouted just before the door slammed shut and his friend stormed off down the darkening sidewalk, one arm raising behind him to offer the brunnet a middle finger in reply.

Tyler groaned, sitting alone in the truck and watching Reid grow smaller and smaller before the shadows swallowed him up down the street. His phone buzzed in the pocket of his hoodie and when he tugged it out the glowing screen showed a text from Po. 'Make it in one piece?' Tyler almost laughed and quickly replied. 'Almost.'

* * *

Pogue was looking at his phone when Caleb walked out of the house and into the garage, opening the freezer they kept there.

Po looked up from where he stood by his bike, the garage door already open.

“Did they make it?” Caleb asked but didn't look up.

Pogue put his phone in his pocket, watching his brother carefully. “Yeah.”

Caleb stood there for a second longer, shoulders tense, before grabbing a white wax paper package of meat from the freezer, closing it, and going back inside.


	2. Hello

It was three in the morning and Tyler had just collapsed back on his mattress. The sheets were in a bag somewhere. The whole apartment was a clusterfuck of boxes, bags and ill placed furniture. Caleb would have given him a look. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Not that he was likely to see the state of their apartment. Reid would probably burn the place down if Caleb stepped foot in it.

He heard the front door open and close, his own bedroom door open and not far from that one room in the middle that made up the living room, entrance and kitchen. “Don't think I don't notice how you finally come home when I've already unloaded the whole fucking truck!” Tyler shouts, one foot kicking at air, leg bent over the edge of his back and head still back against the mattress. His room was dark like the entrance though the lights of the city flowed easily through that naked window. Who the fuck put up blinds at their last place? Had Reid done that? It didn't seem likely.

“If you needed help moving you should have sent a text or something.”

Tyler sat upright at the sound of that voice, staring through the shadows of his room and the doorway to see Pogue standing there in the living room of boxes, looking around at it before turning his head to look back at Tyler. Tyler could barely breathe. Two years. After one he had started texting Po. He'd even called him a couple of times.

“Where's the firecracker?” Pogue asked, sounding a little uncertain about being there. He should be.

“Out.”

Pogue couldn't help but smile a little. “He's been in town for what, three hours?”

“Something like that.” Tyler stood up, suddenly aware that his tshirt was wrinkled and his hair was probably going in five different direction. He watched Pogue walked those few steps to his doorway, leaning in and against the frame.

“Should I leave?” the blond asked and Tyler knew he would if only he nodded.

“He's still pissed,” Tyler mumbled, watching Pogue move closer and closer.

The blond nodded, licking his lips and looking down at Tyler now that he stood over him. “Should I leave?” He asked again, whispering now.

Tyler cringed, lips baring teeth. He should kick him out. He should. Instead he was leaning up onto his toes to close that gap between them, to have his mouth touching the other man's. “You have to make this right with, Reid...” he breathed, body shaking, hands holding onto Po's arms to keep that closeness without actually crashing into him. It was almost unbearable. “We can't keep doing this.”

Po nodded, one hand coming to run fingertips up the back of Tyler's spine, all the way to the base of his skull. He grabbed at the back of that neck and pulled Tyler's face up those last centimeters, tongue invading as soon as lips pressed together.

Pogue had told himself he was just going to check the water by swinging by. He had convinced himself he could just say hello and maybe drop that bomb of new covenant info on Tyler. He had been delusional to think it could be all business. Two years. It had been two years since he'd seen him. Two years since he'd touched him. Two years since he'd kissed him. “Fuck,” he groaned against that mouth when Tyler rubbed up against him, grinding their hips together.

Baby Boy pulled and they fell onto the mattress. Tyler was under him, squirming and rubbing, suckling at his tongue in a lewd way he'd never imagined the youngest of them doing. After a few minutes of dry humping and making out, Tyler was flipping them over. The brunnet was pushy and needy in a way Pogue had never known him to be before. Two years changed a lot. He looked on in a breathy haze when Tyler pulled at the front of his pants, head rolling back with a moan when the brunnet pulled out his dick and started pumping it, wasting no time to bending down and engulf it's head with his mouth.

Pogue's mouth opened with a moan, his hand flying to the back of that head, losing fingers in brown hair. “Sh-Shit, Baby Boy...” he ground out, watching his head bob. His first thought was to ask where the hell he had learned this but when he felt the light graze of teeth and then a deep swallow, he knew. Reid. Reid did it like this.

Pogue shivered, imagining a number of things Reid might have shown and done to Tyler over those years. He bit back another moan and hastily pulled off his shirt, feeling suddenly too warm. He grabbed at Tyler, managing to lift and turn him without ever really pulling him off his dick until he was on all fours over him in the other direction. Tyler hummed excitedly around his dick, still sucking and stroking at it while Pogue managed to unbutton the small man's jeans upside down and push them down his hips and thighs. His hardon almost slapped him in the face. Pogue might have laughed if he wasn't so caught up in resisting thrusting his hips up into that mouth. He destracted himself with the cock above his face, one hand holding tight to a pale thigh while his head leaned up, sucking at Tyler's dick. He felt the instant shudder and moan from the mouth around his.

It didn't take long after that. Tyler came first and Pogue grinned and swallowed with too much pride before following, body arching on that mattress.

* * *

Reid had found a pool in a gym a handful of blocks away. It was pretty much empty when he got there and abandoned by the time he got to the pool. A twenty-four hour gym with a pool and a suana. Yeah, he might just never go back to the apartment. He wondered how many days he could play run away before Tyler called the cops and put out a missing person.

He had run away when he was a kid once. It was a couple years after his dad died, when his mom started dating and bringing out jerks. He'd packed his little backpack and crawled out the window- as though she would have noticed him marching out the front door. Tyler's mom would have noticed him easily and driven him home if he'd gone to their place. She might even have given his mom another talk about the responsibilities of parenthood. Pogue's house was full of girls. Too many sisters and aunts. So Reid had run away to Caleb's. The house was huge and his mom barely knew what day it was let alone who should or should not be sleeping over on a school night.

He'd spent two and a half weeks at Caleb's before his mom finally realized he hadn't been home and called around.

Doing his hundredth lap in that empty pool, Reid wasn't sure why he was thinking about that time. They had been kids then. It was too long ago to be worth much now. He kicked off one wall and shot through the water in the other direction, muscles screaming. He'd keep going until he couldn't anymore. That was how he did everything. As fast as he could for as long as he could. And then he'd drag himself out of the water and lay on the cold tiles for a while.

* * *

Caleb leaned against the tiled wall near the entrance to the pool, watching the blond do his laps. Thinking about that time when they were kids and he'd spent at least two weeks raiding his fridge and keeping him up all night to play video games. Caleb had pretended to hate it but it had been some of the best memories of his childhood in that house. Reid had continued to use his house as a hide out through middle school and into highschool but he hadn't called it running away anymore. Caleb had asked him about it once and Reid had shrugged casually, like nothing ever hurt him. “You can't run away if no one cares,” he had said with a laugh. Reid had always been like that. Pretending to be cold. Pretending nothing hurt. Caleb often wondered if he'd realized sooner that it was pretending, if things still would have ended up the way they had.

He straightened, pushing off the wall when the water broke and Reid drug himself up from the pool to collapse onto the tiles, panting and staring up at the ceiling, water rolling off of him and legs still over the edge.

Caleb backed away, slipping back out of the room and through the entrance. The woman at the front desk smiled when she saw him. She had a tedious job, keeping this place open during hours when almost no one was here. “Did you find everything alright?” she asked.

He had told her that he was thinking about changing gyms and wanted to take a look around. He smiled back at her. “I did. I'll probably be back tomorrow to go over the membership stuff, if that's alright?”

She smiled and nodded, waving him off and settling back into her chair to play with her phone. “Have a good night!”

Caleb pulled his phone from his pocket when he left the building, walking down the sidewalk and tapping at the screen until it began to ring. He held it to his ear and waited, almost too long, before Pogue answered. “Hey.”

Caleb tried not to smile at the breathy sound of his friend's voice. “Hey, yourself. Are you still with Baby Boy?” He imagined from the sound of his single syllable and the spray of a shower in the background that the answer was yes.

“Uhuh. I kinda gotta go.”

“Did you tell him yet?” Caleb asked before his friend could hang up.

There was a pause and then a sigh. “No.”

“Alright. You don't have to tell him yet. I'll tell Reid on his way home,” Caleb said it and felt like if he hadn't he might have chickened out.

There was another pause. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I'll call you later.” He hung up before Pogue could second guess his already bad decision any more. He was going to have to see Reid eventually and someone had to tell him before the moon changed next week.


	3. Too Late

It was almost morning, that spot in a night where it was caught between. Too early to be day but too late to be night. Reid walked down the sidewalk, watching a few bakeries and coffee shops open up. His blond hair was still wet. He hadn't bothered to dry it and his clothes clung to his body. The morning was warm but not as warm as the sauna had been.

His shoes scuffed the sidewalk when he came to a stop. He didn't know why at first but his gaze turned up to see Caleb leaning there against the wall of his new apartment building. He was looking casual, as though maybe it was normal they bump into each other. As though the last time they met hadn't been years ago and ended in bruises and busted lips. Caleb pushed off from the wall and took those few steps closer to Reid when the blond didn't approach, but he stopped outside of arms reach.

Reid hated to see that he was still taller than him. Of course he was.

“We need to talk,” Caleb broke the silence, voice deep as ever.

Reid cracked a sideways smile. “Is this where you tell me the town isn't big enough for the both of us?”

“No. It's where I tell you something bad is going to happen and we need to stick together.”

Reid let out a joyless laugh and started and ended in one breath. “You're shitting me, right? We don't stick together. We don't do anything together,” he said before starting forward again and passing Caleb on his was to the door. The brunnet caught him by the arm and it was electric. Fingers against his bicep, both jolting still for a second before Reid could suck at a curse and twist to the side. His hand shoved against Caleb's chest, pushing him a few steps back. “Don't touch me!”

Caleb hissed between his teeth. “Damn it, Reid. When the fuck are you going to get over this?”

“Get over it?” the blond snapped, staring back at his once friend. “You didn't believe me. What was it you said to me?” He demanded, as though he didn't know the words perfectly.

Caleb cringed. “Reid...”

“Say it.”

Caleb clicked his tongue to his teeth irritably but drug his eyes up to look back at the blond. “I said a lot of things. We were fighting.”

“Say it again.”

“Reid.”

Reid cursed under his breath and turned to leave but the breath Caleb exhaled sounded like defeat and he paused a moment longer to hear those old words.

“You're a liar,” Caleb repeated old offenses, cringing. “You're a liar and a slut and I hate you,” he whispered. “I've always hated you. You're not my brother. You're not my friend. You're not even worth fucking.” Caleb watched the other man shudder at those words, turning around to look back at him. Reid looked hollow, smiling and empty. That was exactly how he'd looked that night. It had been so satisfying at the time, to say all the things he could think of to try to hurt him. It had been rash and as soon as it was done, Caleb had known it would never be the same again.

Reid turned fully, patient now. “What did you want to tell me that was so important?” he asked, always that little hollow smirk in the corner of his mouth. “It must be something big if you're willing to stand on the sidewalk with a slut like me.”

Caleb cringed. “Reid, I was wrong,” he said it again. It was the hundredth time.

“Oh? That I'm not a slut or that I'm not a liar?”

“You _are_ a slut and a liar,” Caleb pointed out sharply, taking a step closer to him. “But so am I and I don't hate you. And-”

“What did you want?” Reid interrupted impatiently.

Caleb sighed but nodded. “I could give you the long explanation but I don't think you want it.”

“Hmm.” Reid nodded sarcastically. “We lying sluts are often pretty dumb.”

Caleb winced. “In eight days it'll be a new moon.”

“Uhuh.” Reid was pointedly bored now.

“We won't have our powers for a year.”

“What?” All boredom was gone.

“It's an alignment of planets. It happens every few thousand years. Our powers will go dormant for a full year. No using. None.”

Reid cracked a smile. “Bullshit.”

Caleb shook his head gravely. “It's real. We've tried to figure out a way around it but there just isn't one.”

Reid took a step back, reeling. He wanted to call him a liar but this wasn't something Caleb would make up. He eventually nodded and then shrugged. “Guess we'll just have to be normal boys for a year then,” he said, turning toward his apartment building again.

“Reid.” Caleb persisted, following him. “You and Tyler should move in with us. We have a house-”

“Cute.”

“I'm serious. It has plenty of room.”

“Why the fuck would I move in with you?” Reid laughed, holding onto the door and turning to look back at him.

“It might be safer. We should look out for each other and-”

“You want something from me,” Reid said as if shocked and then laughed, turning back to him again. “You trust me to save you, Cay?”

“Of course.”

“You trust me now? But you didn't trust me then?”

“Reid-”

“You didn't trust me when your girlfriend said I was making moves on her?”

“You've slept with my girlfriends and boyfriends before, Reid...” Caleb defended, voice low.

“But I never lied about it or hid it,” Reid retorted easily. “But you believed her.”

“You were uses a lot back then.”

“I would never use against a person like that.”

“You use against me.”

Reid laughed. “You can use back.”

Caleb reached out again, grabbing at his brother's arm, holding on this time and pulling him a step closer. “I shouldn't have doubted you. Things got out of hand. Can't you just-”

“Out of hand? No, Cay. We've been getting 'out of hand' since we were old enough to kick each other. You chose a stranger over a brother. You chose someone outside of the circle over me,” Reid hissed.

“You had been goading me for weeks! You've always been competitive! You always got like this when I dated someone!” He had told himself he wouldn't get sucked back into this argument. He had told himself if it came to it, he would just apologize like he should have a year ago when he knew he was wrong.

“But I never used on any of them! And I never hid anything from you!” Reid raged back, shoving at Caleb's chest.

“Liar!” Caleb shouted, grabbing at the smaller man's arm and pushing him back against the wall. He was sucking air, trying to calm down. Reid always had this affect on him. He made his blood race and his thoughts too fast to put in order. He let out a slow sigh, face close to Reid's now. “You hide everything from me.” He exhaled, mouth close to Reid's, lips brushing just before power slammed against him, shoving him back a step just before Reid's fist cut across his jaw and threw him to the ground.

The blond stood over him on the sidewalk, both panting. “You were right, Cay,” Reid said, rolling his shoulders to losen them up before swallowing and pushing his hair back out of his face. “I am a slut. I fuck whoever I want whenever I want. But I don't want you,” he said coldly before turning away and opening the door to his building.

“Liar,” Caleb accused before spitting blood onto the pavement and hearing that door slam shut.

* * *

Reid climbed the stairs quickly. He remember the apartment number because it had been in at least half of the hundred texts Tyler had sent him since he stormed off earlier that night. The door wasn't locked and Reid walked in to the living room of boxes and desks. The bathroom door was open and letting out a stream of light and tufts of steam along with the steady sound of a shower.

He went toward an open door, expecting there to be a mattress beyond it that he could collapse onto. He planned to fake sleep before Tyler even knew he was home but before he could find a bed, he passed the bathroom door and heard the sounds rolling out on the steam. He stopped short, just beside the frame, and leaned in to those sounds of panting and moaning.

Tyler had his hands to the tiles of the shower, head forward and ass pushed back against Pogue's hips, meeting with each thrust with loud moans. Tyler was a loud lover. It was as gratifying as it was troublesome. Reid could not count the number of times they'd almost been caught.

He leaned his shoulder to the frame and watched them. Pogue was clutching at those hips, lifting them to make up for their height difference and rocking back and forth to bounce his hips on Tyler's ass. “B-Baby boy...” Pogue moaned the name when he was close, muscles tight and mouth open to pant.

Tyler mewled and nodded, fingers curling against the tile before a jab of those hips had him crying out again, cumming on the tiles. Tyler had always had the hots for Pogue. He was Tyler's teen obsession and Reid had been more than willing to let his friend test everything out on him with the intention of honing those skills to seduce Pogue. Of course, he'd only just gotten around to being intimate with Pogue before they had their falling out two years ago.

Reid felt that pang of guilt for taking Tyler with him in that breakup of friends. It hadn't been a ploy or come with any intentions to keep him from the others. Honestly, Reid had never really thought that far ahead. He'd never really imagined that they would never be all four again.

With a sigh, he left the doorway and went into the bedroom, closing the door and finally finding that mattress he'd set out after.


	4. Always

Everything was clearer the next morning. Well, afternoon, when Reid woke up. He showered and ate left over pizza from the fridge while Tyler told him about their pending mortality. He didn't bother to tell him that Caleb had already told him the night before. He didn't even prod him about talking to Pogue, knowing full well they did plenty more than talk.

The line Reid had drawn in the proverbial sand seemed unreasonable now that he was watching Tyler pace, fingers twitching the way they did when he was anxious. He really didn't like the idea of being without his powers. Reid could have been cavaler and pretended not to understand. Tyler barely used anyway. He could do a year without easy. But he knew that Tyler wasn't anxious because of himself. He was anxious because it meant a year without any way to patch them back together if something happened. It meant a whole year where Reid would have to survive all his fights.

It was pissing Reid off just watching him and, being the impulsive person he was, Reid did the first thing he could think of to put a stop to it and also make his bestfriend look completely stupified. “So, we should probably move in with Po then, I guess,” Reid said casually before stuffing the crust of his pizza slice into his mouth and shutting the fridge.

Tyler stopped so fast he almost fell over, head whipping back to look at the blond. “What?”

Reid shrugged and then waved a hand at their stuff. “We're already packed. Why the fuck not?” He left the kitchen and made his way toward the door, looking for his jacket and his keys.

Tyler swiveled to watch him. “Seriously? I mean, Pogue said we could but…I mean, he lives with Caleb.”

Reid was glad his back was to his brother when he heard those words. It wasn't that he didn't know, it was the small way that Tyler said it. Defeated already. Reid clicked his teeth and then shrugged. “Seems silly to hold grudges now, right?” He was pretty proud of how carefree his voice sounded then. He gave up on finding a jacket. “Give them a call and see when we should move this shit.” He said before grabbing up his gym bag and leaving. He'd go for a swim, blow some energy, and then take a look around town for someplace to eat. He imagined Tyler would have them moved by then, before he could change his mind. He decided on the sidewalk that he wouldn't change his mind. He also decided he wouldn't live there. Baby Boy could put his things wherever he wanted but Reid had never had trouble making friends in the past. He was just as good at finding people to love him as he was at finding ones to hate him.

He told himself when he walked into the gym that he'd play along for a year. That way Tyler could be with the others and maybe freak out a little less. He'd be safe, at least. They could figure out everything else next year.

* * *

Caleb was getting out of the shower when he heard the chime of Po's phone. He was still rubbing the towel against his hair when he walked from the bathroom into his bedroom. The phone chimed again, muffled by denim and Pogue's ass. The blond was sprawled on the Caleb's bed, more or less the same as he had been since he came home earlier this morning and tossed himself down. He had mumbled some excuse about his bed having stuff on it and being too tired to clean but sometime he just did that. The truth was, Pogue had been making up lame excuses to sleep in Caleb's bed since they were kids. Caleb was still pissed about how he almost always slept in the same clothes he'd been wearing the day before, just as he had been when they were in school uniforms years ago.

He cracked a smile and kicked the bed to jostle the still sleeping heap of a man. “Your phone,” Caleb said loudly.

Pogue grumbled in return and rolled onto his side, one arm reaching back to retrieve the device from his pocket. His head lifted and then his hand moved to sweep the hair out of his face, eyes blinking to focus while fingers brought up a text message. Caleb had turned away and gone to his dresser to pull out clean clothes. There was always a chance Pogue would steal some of them, so he was quick to take the jeans he didn't want to share.

“They're moving in,” Pogue said, sounding suddenly awake.

Caleb looked back, pulling his pants up to his hips. Po was sitting up on the bed now, legs over the edge. “What?”

“Baby Boy says they'll move in. They want to know when works for us.” Pogue sounded confused even though they had talked about this, even though it was the offer they'd extended and Caleb felt himself reflecting that disbelief. Reid wouldn't say yes. Not already, anyway. The phone chimed again and Caleb watched the other man read whatever appeared on his screen. “Tyler thinks we should do it today.”

“Before he changes his mind?” Caleb almost laughed. He might have if this wasn't so unnerving. Reid was actually going to move in to their place? Why? He wasn't out of time yet. They still had their powers for another week. It wasn't like him to go down without a fight.

Pogue had started tapping in a reply and Caleb didn't have to ask. They were skeptical but they'd still jump on it. “Are you going to shower and change before we go?” Caleb asked, pulling on a shirt and not caring that it stuck to the water still on his back.

“Fuck no,” Pogue said, rolling his hips to stand. “Shoes and a hair-tie and we're out of here.”

Caleb nodded and then sighed. Whatever Reid was up to, it wouldn't be easy. It was never easy. “I'll get the car. Leave your bike here.”

* * *

It was dark by the time Reid came back to the building. He was a little buzzed and had made a few friends at a club down the street. Too bad they were moving out of this apartment because it was just about in the middle of the city. He'd left his gym bag in the locker at the gym. He reached into the pocket on habit, fingers fishing after keys he didn't have and wouldn't really need. A glance at the parking lot told him that Tyler's truck was gone. Caleb's car was there instead.

Reid frowned at it, stopping by the front doors with his head turned to look over the sculpted metal with a crude eye. He hadn't actually seen this car before but he knew Caleb's style. Sleek and fast. The black of the paint job gleamed with a hint of gunmetal grey. His fingers continued to shift in his pocket, hoping to find keys for a different reason now.

“You planning to break one of his lights or what?” The voice came from the side and Reid turned blue eyes to look at Pogue where he leaned against the wall.

“We'll see.” Reid shrugged, giving up on keys and taking his hand out of his pocket. Pogue pushed off the wall and turned toward him, not taking those handful of steps left between them without an invitation. “I didn't expect you here,” Reid admitted.

What little smile Pogue's mouth held, fell away. “Why not?”

Reid took those steps between them, not even sure himself why except that it had been so long since he last saw him. He looked the same. Broad shoulders and too much hair. He had that look of rolling out of bed and shrugging into clothes pulled from a hamper. It was a look some people had to create with care but Pogue just owned. Reid tried not to frown when he stopped just within arms reach and realized Pogue might have grown another inch taller since graduating. “We've never been all that close,” he said and when the words fell from his mouth he actually believed them. He watched them strike Pogue. Watched that moment of shock and then anger and then the cunning calm that was Po.

“Never?” Pogue asked, voice deep, taking a step to stand even closer.

Reid felt his pulse quicken in that nearness. He inhaled to reply and almost groaned when his lungs swelled with Pogue's scent. “You picked him,” the smaller blond reminded, clutching at his anger but it was never really Pogue he was angry at.

Pogue's teeth clicked angrily. “What choice did the two of you leave us? Tyler stuck with you and I stuck with Cay.”

"So it's my fault?” Reid hissed.

“I didn't say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” Reid demanded.

Pogue's hand grabbed his side and pushed him back and up against wall. Before Reid could push him away he was speaking again, neck bent and face close. “I'm saying I missed you,” Pogue whispered harshly.

Reid's arm had curled against the front of his chest, fingers twisting in the front of his thin tank top, balling into a fist. His muscles twitched, struggling against the impulse to push him away. “You're lying,” he bit out, blue eyes watery and words bit back with emotions he'd tried to ignore for years.

Pogue smiled but it was more tired than amused. “That's yours and his game, not mine. Not ours,” he reminded and Reid was having trouble not looking at his mouth, having trouble not squirming in that space Pogue had pushed him into between his body and the wall. “You remember our game, don't you? You remember us?”

Reid shuddered, biting his lip to try to resist biting Pogue's. “What if I don't?”

Pogue smiled wider then, a real smile. “I could remind you,” he offered, hips pushing forward to pin Reid to the wall. He shivered when he watched the smaller blond tremble, eyes fluttering shut for a moment while he swallowed back a moan. “Do you remember that time we had sex in the pool at my family's house?” Pogue asked in a whisper, one arm bent and braced against the wall above Reid's head, the other still holding his side. “We had to do it really slow, so no one noticed...” he continued, still rolling his hips against Reid's. “You were so frustrated by the end that you almost drowned me.” He touched his forehead to Reid's, watching him squirm. “And that time in the library when one of the teachers caught us…”

Reid shuddered, tense, shaking his head stubbornly.

Pogue exhaled against his neck, head turning just slightly to have his mouth close to Reid's. “What about that time in the police station…You remember, when you got arrested and called me to bail you out?” Pogue smiled wide. “I was so pissed. Why wouldn't you just use to get out? Why not call your mom or Tyler...” He leaned even closer, brushing lips up his cheek to his ear. “You were naked when I got their. You blew me through the bars and then-”

Reid hissed between his teeth and shoved Pogue back, resisting the urge to follow, resisting the urge to throw himself at the other man and feel that solid body against his own. “I don't remember,” he lied, shoulders tense and body dragging in breaths.

Pogue just looked back at him, patient as ever. It was infuriating.

“You know,” Pogue started, that sexy lazy tone in his voice, tank top hanging on muscles shadowed by evening light. “Seeing you again…I feel like I haven't had sex in years. Not since the last time we fucked.” He took a step back rather than forward and Reid felt like he'd drawn the air from his lungs with that absence. “What was our last time, Reid?” that deep voice asked. He took another step back, the back of his legs hitting the front bumper of Caleb's car.

Reid felt himself leaning forward, skin hot and cock hard. “I don't remember,” he rasped out the lie.

“Wasn't it in a parking lot?” Pogue asked, knowing full well that it was. He hadn't forgotten or even pretended to. “You pushed me into the bed of Tyler's truck and fucked me. We heard someone watching from the trees but didn't stop...”

Reid took a step forward before twisting to a stop, dragging fingers over his scalp and through his hair. “You...” He swallowed hard, struggling to think let alone speak. How could Pogue always make him feel like this? Like he was dying and Pogue was his fountain of life. It was need more than want. It had only been possible to resist Pogue by keeping that distance. Distance had been easy with Caleb at his side. “You picked him.”

Pogue nodded, unapologetic. “But I'll always love you. You're my brother, Reid. Nothing will change that. Even if he hated you. Even if the whole world hated you. I would still love you,” he said it in that voice he'd been using since they were kids--the serious one, the one that made the rest of the world fall away, the one that had never been anything but true.

Reid shivered, unable to bear that small distance anymore, suddenly raw and alone and desperate not to be. He threw himself forward, cringing at his own desire but throwing himself at Pogue, knowing that those arms would catch him. His legs wrapped around Po's waist, arms curling around the back of his head and mouth crashing against his. He tasted the same as he had last time with the hint of energy drinks and spearmint gum. Reid's fingers twisted in the back of that long hair, moaning into his mouth when those arms squeezed him. Reid rocked his hips forward hard and Pogue buckled, falling back onto the hood of the car.

Their kiss grew violent, arms moving between them to unbuckle pants. Pogue opened his mouth wide to moan when Reid freed his cock and stroked it. He tried to sit up but Reid was fast, shoving him back down, his shoulders denting the hood. The taller blond groaned pleasantly on bottom. He'd only tried to get up to be pushed back down. Reid wiggled ontop of him to get his pants down his hips, his knees against Pogue's ribs. Reid's eyes washed black, using to stretch himself before sinking down slowly onto Pogue's sex.

Pogue didn't fight, his head rolling back and mouth opening to moan breathlessly, feeling himself slowly swallowed up by that tight body. Reid had only just started to bounce when a voice called at them from the side. It was hard to pay attention at first but it was persistent, coming closer.

Pogue rolled his head to the side, his arms spread out on the hood and his body writhing out of his control under Reid's. The cop was red-faced and he couldn't be sure if it was out of anger or embarrassment. “Stop right now!” the man shouted, reaching for the radio strapped to his shoulder, and then suddenly stopped. Pogue blinked but the man didn't. He looked up at Reid but he didn't need to see those black eyes or that outstretched arm to know what had happened. Reid's body was still bouncing, still riding Pogue. Sound had stopped along with everything else around them. Pogue moaned from deep in his chest, watching the blond above him, pale hair glowing against a dark sky and lips parted to pant. He was wild, that one. He wasn't sorry he'd stuck by Caleb, but he was sorry it had taken this long to find Reid again.


	5. Party Tricks

Summer was almost over. Swept by under lazy weeks, too many parties, and a haze of anxiety. Pogue and Tyler were happy to pretend everything was alright but Caleb felt endlessly on edge. They were without their powers, without that promise of safety ‘just in case’. And worst of all, he very rarely had any idea where Reid was at all. He could be dead. It was enough to keep him awake through his nights and preoccupied with terrible ideas during the day.

Technically, he had moved in to their house when Tyler did. He even had a room. A room he’d never once slept in, but a room full of his packed boxes all the same. He’d made a point of making friends in town fast, casually busy and enjoying his summer with just enough enthusiasm to keep him out of their house and away from any of their parties, but not so much so as to actually endanger himself and risk earning Pogue or Tyler’s attention.

Caleb opened the fridge and stared at its contents blindly. It had been four days this time. Four days since Reid last drifted through the house to exchange niceties with the other boys and pretend quite expertly that Caleb didn’t exist.

Pogue came into the kitchen, paused long enough to realize that Caleb was glaring at the orange juice, and then walked up close to reach in and grab it. He pulled it out, bumped his hip into Caleb’s to push him to the side, and closed the door. “Wanna barbecue tonight?” Pogue asked, taking the cap from the juice and drinking down the last of it from the bottle.

Caleb sighed. “Where is he?”

Pogue finished the juice and then tossed the bottle over Caleb’s shoulder and into the trash. “Who?” He smiled and Caleb gave him a hateful glare. “He’s out with friends. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? He could be…” Caleb bit back the words.

Pogue lost his smile to that thought. “Reid can take care of himself, Cay. You know that.”

“Not without using. You know how he is.”

“I do.” Pogue put his hand on Caleb’s shoulder, squeezing. “So do you.” He pushed him back a step and then turned, walking around the counter and toward the garage door. “So, barbecue?”

“Whatever.”

Pogue smiled a little. “We could make a party out of it. Invite the swim team, like a get together before practice starts.”

Caleb pinched his face in disinterest and looked away. Half the swim team were douchebags.

“Conner Grace is back in town. Has been for a week,” Pogue continued to chatter about one of their teammates.

Now Caleb looked back at him, confused. Connor was an asshole and Pogue had never liked him, despite all of Connor’s attempts to kiss up. “Why would you invite him?”

Pogue shrugged but continued to smile.

Caleb took a step closer, sucking his lips to his teeth to keep from smiling. “Reid’s friends with Connor?”

Connor would come to any party they invited him to. He liked being in the know and he’d been trying to make friends with Pogue since he arrived last year. Possibly more than friends, but Pogue had been preoccupied with a redhead at the time.

Caleb didn’t hesitate long before giving a stiff nod and turning away. Pogue howled in triumph and pulled his phone from his pocket. He was never one to half-ass enthusiasm. If they were going to throw a house party, even if it was just to get a look at Reid and see how he was doing, Pogue would go full out.

By sundown their driveway and sidewalk was packed with parked vehicles, their yard casually filled with loitering party goers, the first floor of their house packed and the slider doors to the backyard permanently open for the flow of traffic and the saturation of music. Pogue was true to his original goal and had the grill going. Almost the entire swim team showed up with friends to fill out the party with just enough faces that everyone could meet someone new.

Caleb didn’t care about new faces. He leaned against the counter, making small talk with teammates and pretty friends, always keeping an eye on the door when someone walked in. There was a chain of excited calls when Connor walked in with three other juniors and Reid. Caleb gave his brother a once over. He still had all his limbs, no visible bruises or limps, so he was at least not sitting on deaths door someplace.

Connor and his friends cut a line through the room when he saw Caleb. Somehow he already had a beer in his hand. The tall, sandy blond junior interrupted the conversation around Caleb to cut in, always eager for the attention and approval of his seniors. Caleb looked past him to Reid for a second. He wasn’t the kind of guy Reid usually hung out with. “Hey man, you have a good summer?” Conner held out his hand and Caleb looked at it, considering ignoring it before taking it in a quick shake. If he wanted Reid to stick around a while, he might have to give Connor a reason to stay too. “Yeah, not bad. You?”

Connor laughed and gave him a rundown of his summer travels before remembering Reid. He turned to the smaller blond and actually introduced him to Caleb. Caleb raised one eyebrow. That had never happened before. In all the years, even in all the years in which they’d fought, they had never been in a situation where people didn’t know they knew one another. “I know who he is,” Caleb spat, disgusted that someone would think he didn’t. They were brothers. They had known each other since before they could talk. No one knew him better or loved him more. “He lives upstairs.”

Reid curled his lip in an angry smile. “Oh, that’s where I’ve seen you before.”

Connor looked surprised, a flash of anger before he covered it with a smile. “Are you serious? You live here?”

“Sure,” Caleb answered before Reid could. “What? You thought he was homeless?”

Connor's expression suggested that he might have.

* * *

Tyler was holding Pogue’s beer while he flipped burgers on the grill. He drank from both, always sure to make sure Pogue’s was less than his own by the time he handed the bottle back. It had become his bbq strategy so as not to have to fetch his own beers when they ran out. This way, Po always ran out first.

He handed the bottle back, turning to look into the house and frowning. “Oh shit,” he muttered, resting his newly freed hand on Pogue’s shoulder and looking over it. “Reid’s here.”

“Are they talking or fighting?” Po asked casually, not even bothering to turn and look for himself.

Tyler scrunched his nose, trying to decide. Caleb looked annoyed but that was usual and Reid was smiling—which could mean anything. “Talking?” Reid laughed and it was toothy and cruel. “Nope. Fighting. Definitely fighting.”

Pogue glanced back over his shoulder, putting his cheek close to Tyler’s. “Yep. How long until Reid throws a punch or breaks something?”

“Maybe three minutes?”

“You two look awfully cozy,” one of the new teammates called from a lounge chair. He’d had to sit down because he’d had too many shots to stay standing. He made a lewd kissy face with tongue and then cackled, trying to embarrass them. It got him attention from more than a few standing around the backyard because most were well aware that Pogue swung both ways. He’d never been secretive.

Pogue smiled, always easy going as long as no one was getting hurt, and curled an arm around Tyler’s waist, pulling him in those last few inches to mash their hips together. “You should see how cozy we get in bed.”

Tyler laughed and took another drink of his beer just before something loud broke in the living room. “Oh fuck.” He pushed away from Pogue and cut a line into the house. The tension was thick and Reid had his shoulders pressed back the way he did before he swung. Caleb was looking cocky, a little smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. Someone had thrown a bottle against the wall but, for the life of him, Tyler wasn’t sure who.

He walked straight into the eye of the storm. “Reid!” he shouted with a big grin, pretending to be drunk and slinging an arm over his friend’s shoulder. “Where the hell have you been?” Reid’s arm wrapped easily around his waist, second nature to hold him up when he was wasted. “Oh! Oh! I have something for you!” Tyler said too loudly, pushing with sloppy steps to try to propel them toward the stairs. “Come on!”

Reid curled his lips and made a sharp sound between his perfect teeth at Caleb before turning away. Tyler let his friend bear most of his weight, not just because he was trying to play his role but also because he’d missed the contact. He was still acting like a drunken idiot until they reached the second floor.

“Okay, Baby Boy, what do you got for me?” Reid asked, smiling a little now because he’d never been able to resist his best friend, especially not when he was drunk.

Tyler sobered up and grinned, pushing him into the bathroom and kicking the door shut. “I was actually thinking you could give me something…” he admitted before crushing his mouth to Reid’s. He felt the moment of tension, when his mind raced to catch up with the fact that Tyler had only been faking being drunk, probably to defuse the situation, and then his mouth moved against his when he realized he didn’t give a fuck why Tyler had tricked him into a bathroom. His hands curled around Tyler’s back, pulling him in closer.

Reid moaned against Tyler's kiss. He’d been dodging his brothers and this house but he’d never meant to dodge Tyler.

Tyler grabbing Reid by those pale blond locks and pulling his head back, exposing that long pale neck to his tongue and teeth. Reid moaned darkly, grinding his hips into Tyler's. “Fuck.”

Tyler hummed, pushing him back against the wall. “Where have you been?” He licked his way up to Reid’s ear.

“Hnnn… Clubs. Friends.”

“Connor?” Tyler pulled at the front of Reid’s pants until he had them open and was reaching in.

Reid moaned louder. “Fuck, Baby Boy, you’ve got a weird interrogation style…”

Tyler moaned agreement against Reid’s ear before squirming his way down his body, crouching in front of him and pulling his dick out of his pants. “You should come home more often...” the brunet said before wrapping his mouth around him and looking up through his lashes.

Reid let out a curse in a gush of air, his hands coming up to rack fingers through his hair. “Oh, fuck… fuck...” He shivered, that head moving back and forth over his dick. Maybe he had a point. Maybe he should come home more often. He’d missed Tyler. Not just for the sex but for everything else. For his nearness. He was his best friend and Reid never felt entirely himself without him. Those brown eyes were looking up at him, pinning him, watching him and he couldn’t look back. He knew if he looked down and met Tyler’s stare he’d lose it. He’d promise him anything in the heat of the moment and, even when the haze of lust passed, he wouldn’t be able to go back on his word—not if he gave it to Tyler.

* * *

Connor had stayed with Caleb downstairs for a while longer, awkwardly trying to figure out what the tension between him and Reid had been. Reid had humiliated him in front of the seniors. How could he not tell him he lived with Caleb and Pogue? When Caleb went to check on the burgers, Connor made his way upstairs to look for Reid and that skinny brunet he’d run off with.

He'd walked passed the bathroom but stopped when he heard Reid’s voice. He leaned against the wall. He couldn’t hear the smaller, softer sounds of their interaction inside but he heard Reid’s shouts of pleasure. Reid wasn’t a quiet fuck. He wasn’t a quiet anything. When the door finally opened, Connor slid back into an open doorway, just out of sight, but at an angle to watch Reid and the skinny brunet come out of the bathroom together. Before the brunet could say anything, Reid had his face in his hands and was kissing him. Connor almost burst out of the doorway. He’d spent the last couple weeks with Reid but he’d never seen him like that. He’d never kissed him like that, not gentle and affectionate, not with actual need.

Reid left his forehead pressed to the brunets for a handful of breaths and they just stood there like that, soaking each other in, eyes closed. “Don’t leave,” the brunet whispered.

Reid cringed. Actually cringed. It was all so strange, seeing real emotions on his sharp features. “I can’t stay here with him,” the blond confessed. “You know I can’t.” He started to pull away and the brunet grabbed at his waist.

“Let it go, Reid. He’s sorry. He needs you. I need you.”

“You have me.”

The brunet shook his head. “Here. With us. I need you here.”

Reid took another step back and the brunet let go of him. “I can’t. I don’t know why, I just--”

“You need him to pay. He paid, Reid. You wanted him to hurt for hurting you, and he does.”

Reid recoiled, shaking his head. “I don’t need him to hurt, Baby Boy. I need to breathe. I can’t breathe with him.” Tears pricked those beautiful, pale blue eyes. “I love him, even now, even after what he said. Even knowing what he thinks of me, I still love him and no matter how much I hate him I can’t shake that. Being around him is torture because all I want to do is touch him, but I can’t and I won’t. You don’t think I want to forgive him? You don’t think I want to pretend he never said what he did?”

The brunet tried to find words, mouth moving but unable to get out sounds before Reid walked away.

Connor stood there in the silence after Reid had gone for long stretches of seconds. It was so much to take in. His Reid, unfeeling and beautiful, was brokenhearted. Brokenhearted over someone else but just fucked with this brunet in the bathroom. He’d always suspected Reid was a slut but he hadn’t seen it, hadn’t expected him to dare to mess around behind his back. And with this guy?

Connor stepped into the hallway and the brunet turned, looking confused and then surprised. “What?” he snapped, breaking the silence first.

Connor took that step closer, taller than this guy by a head. “You’re new here?”

“I--” the brunet started to reply, already looking cocky, lips still swollen.

Connor swung his fist, knuckles mashing against that cheek and bouncing his head off the wall. The brunet crumbled easily and Connor crouched next to him, listening to his hissed breath and watching his eyes, now glossy, blink against the haze of his vision. “You want Reid back?” he whispered, not realizing just how angry he was until he heard his own voice clawing up from his chest. “You can have him when I’m done with him.”

The brunet sneered, teeth pink with blood and tried to push off the wall. Connor stood and kicked him hard in the chest, slamming him into the wall again before stepping over him, pushing back his hair from his face, and heading downstairs. He put on a casual smile and looked for Reid in the crowd. He was ready to go home.


	6. Break

When Tyler woke up, he was on the floor of the upstairs hall. He pushed himself up and had to use the wall to get to his feet. His mouth tasted like blood and his head throbbed. A part of him tried to push the pain aside by drawing on that power that had been theirs before. It wasn’t there this time though and his head continued to throb, his lip still busted. It split more when he cursed and snarled, lips peeling back to bare blood pink teeth. “Fuck.” He leaned a shoulder into the wall and stumbled down the stairs.

He had to blink more to see clearly, vision fogging every few seconds to run colors together. Fuck, had the music been this loud before? He looked around for Reid, or even that asshole Connor, but couldn’t see either. He started to sag again, the floor calling to him with the promise of solid comfort, but he locked his knees.

A hand caught his cheek, warm, and he blinked at Caleb. Oh shit, he was talking. The words were running together. “Fuck.” He exhaled again, pressing his eyes wide as though that would clear his head. “Reid,” he said the only name that mattered then and Caleb’s face twisted in confusion, disbelief, and then cold realization. One steady arm hooked around Tyler’s back to keep him up and pressed into his side when he turned and started shouting. Within a second Pogue was there and people were melting away from the living room.

* * *

Caleb had cut a line straight across the room when he saw Tyler stagger down the stairs. The closer he got the angrier he got. Baby Boy’s face was red on one side, mouth bloody and eyes unfocused. He caught the cheek not battered and made those eyes look up at him when he reached him. “Who the fuck hit you?” He demanded, getting the attention of more than a few people around them.

Tyler blinked. “Fuck.”

Caleb looked around but didn’t see any obvious culprit. “Who hit you?” he asked again.

“Reid,” Tyler got out the name and Caleb looked down at him again, face twisting in confusion. Had someone knocked the sense right out of him? Not for a second did he believe Reid had hit Tyler. Not that he hadn’t before—they’d fought on occasion and Reid was always physical one way or the other. But he never left Tyler staggering and he never, ever, gave more than he got with his best friend.

Panic hit him all at once when he realized there were other reasons Tyler would spit out that name when dazed. He looked around again, trying to spot Reid but he was already gone. “Pogue!” he shouted the name and then started telling people to get out.

The blond was quick to his side and before he could ask what was wrong he saw Tyler. Baby Boy was fast recovering his senses, Caleb could feel it in how he stood steadier against his side. “That asshole that was with Reid. What the fuck was his name?” Tyler was rambling now.

Pogue frowned. “Connor. Connor hit you? Why?”

Tyler pushed himself away from Caleb to stand on his own, rubbing the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “He heard me and Reid in the bathroom. He freaked out. Where’s Reid?” Panic was starting to speed up Tyler’s words.

* * *

“You think you ran enough red lights?” Reid berated on his way upstairs, following Connor. The guy was tense, brooding even. Reid had been the one that said he was ready to leave but after the drive it felt like Connor was the one that wanted to take off. He hadn’t said a word the whole way—Reid only barely realized because he had been busy sulking himself.

Tyler wanted him to come home. But home didn’t feel like home with Caleb there. Not anymore. It wasn’t that he couldn’t forgive him for thinking so badly of him or for saying it. It was that, when he was around Caleb, he felt like that was all he was. He was a liar and a slut and not worth Caleb’s love. That had been what hurt most, wasn’t it? He was a liar. And he was a slut. And he wasn’t sorry for either. What had hurt—what had burst a hole in his heart that nothing could heal, was the idea that Caleb didn’t love him. It was too much to think about. Too much to deal with. So he ran from it because if he didn’t, he was sure that hole in his heart would kill him.

Connor unlocked his apartment and threw the door open, marching in and straight for the kitchen. Reid kicked the door shut, shrugged out of his jacket, and flopped down on the couch. Fuck. He couldn’t get Caleb out of his head. He would have gone to Tyler to make him forget, to give him comfort, but he couldn’t—not anymore. He let out a curse and stood up again, lean and restless. “I’m going out.” He abandoned his jacket and made for the door. He’d go for a swim. Wear himself out and maybe sleep on the cold tiles when he was done.

He grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open but a palm slammed it shut again. Connor was right behind him and he stared at that hand, veins bulging and fingers tense. He turned and eyed his recent fling with sharp, blue fury. “What the fuck?”

Connor laughed and it was angry. He’d never really seen Connor angry—well, never at him. They’d met in a bar brawl. “Going out for more tail?”

Reid turned fully in that space between the door and the other man. “And if I am? Did you want me to bring some back? Have a threesome? Maybe a foursome?” He was liking the idea as he said it, even if Connor was being especially annoying at the moment.

Connor didn’t think it was funny. That was easy to see. He reached out and grabbed Reid by the back of the neck, swinging him round and shoving him deeper into the apartment, putting himself between the blond and the door. Reid let him have it, staggering those steps and turning again to stare back at him. “What’s your problem?” he barked, fists curling.

“I heard you fucking that little bitch at the party.”

Reid was confused for a second, Tyler so much a part of himself he barely registered him as another person let alone as “cheating”. It wasn’t like he’d told Connor they were exclusive anyway. His teeth ground. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

Connor seethed. “Why? He went down like a bitch when I hit him.”

Reid blinked and then his lean body shot forward, fist jabbing into Connor’s face to bounce his head off the door. “You fucker!”

Connor shoved him off and threw a punch back, catching Reid’s jaw and sending him to the side. His body followed, lunging and tackling him onto the coffee table. “Why? Why does he matter so much, Reid?” He managed to get on top of the wild blond and punched down, splitting that cheek on its fine bone.

Reid bucked, throwing them both off and onto the floor, landing on top and returning the favor. He didn’t answer. He couldn’t imagine giving words to why Tyler mattered—let alone to explain it to this piece of shit. His fist came down hard and he was sure he knocked a tooth loose because it cut into his knuckle. Connor went limp under him, gurgling blood, and he rolled off. He staggered to his feet, shaking out his throbbing hand. People sucked. He rolled his shoulder, wondering when and how he’d hurt it, and walked into the bedroom to grab his bag and the few things he had lying around.

He made a mental note: next time he picked someone to live with, he should pick a friend, a woman, or a sub. His phone was vibrating in his pocket. Maybe it had been for a while. He ignored it for now and walked out of the room, bag in hand. Connor wasn’t on the floor anymore. He noticed it right before he noticed the baseball bat swinging at him from the side. He curled and sucked in a breath just before it cracked against his side and slammed him hard into the wall. When he crumbled to the floor he realized it wasn’t the bat that cracked. It was him.

A string of alarming and wet sounds escaped is chest when Connor dragged him from the wall. He kicked him to roll him onto his back and straddled his shoulders, pinning his arms with his knees as though Reid had the strength left to shove him off. He was still focusing on breathing. He blinked until his vision cleared just in time to see Connor above him, working on opening the front of his jeans over his face. The blond couldn’t help it, he smiled—a mad smile that came before a hoarse laugh. “Oh man, you know I’ll bite it off,” he rasped out, teeth coated in blood and lips red with it. His eyes were hazy with pain but gleamed with promise.

Connor hissed. “You crazy fucker. Maybe I should feel bad for the asshole that broke your heart. Were you a skank before him or did that happen after?”

Reid laughed but it made his chest hurt, something jabbing where it shouldn’t inside and bringing tears to his eyes and blood to his throat. “Always been a slut. And I wouldn’t feel bad for him if I was you.”

Connor stood up, working Reid’s pants open instead. “Why is that?” he panted, pulling those jeans down and then flipping him over.

Reid coughed blood, mind racing. This was actually fucking happening. He supposed it was a long time coming. He’d spent his life pissing off assholes and hanging out with dirt bags. “Because he’s going to kill you,” he wheezed, coughing blood onto the floor under his cheek.

The door kicked in and his eyes moved up to see Caleb step in first. He smiled, sloppy and a little crazed. He was hallucinating, right?

Connor had gone still, the weight of him still on the back of Reid’s thighs, his hand pushing the bat into his back. “Get the fuck out!” he shouted, the bat pushed harder and Reid stopped breathing.

Caleb rushed forward, tackling Connor right off of him and onto the floor. Reid wanted to turn to watch, still mostly sure he was hallucinating but he couldn’t get his body to move. He still wasn’t breathing, he realized.

Just as his vision blurred, Pogue came in and knelt beside him, rolling him carefully onto his back. Reid sucked in a wet breath, eyes blinking away tears that he wished he could explain were out of pain and not some bitch emotion but all his efforts seemed devoted to sucking air and wheezing it back out. Pogue sat him upright, one hand bracing his back, the other managed to pull his jeans back up. “We need to get him to a hospital,” the older blond said loudly, talking over the fighting and shouting going on on the other side of the room. “I’m taking him,” Pogue decided, standing and picking up Reid with him. Reid tried to protest. He hated being carried, especially bridal style. Pogue used to do this to him when they were kids—pretty much as soon as he was strong enough and realized Reid hated it.

He walked out and they passed Tyler in the doorway. Reid tried to grab his baby boy, but lost consciousness before his fingers could lock in that sleeve.


	7. Adrenaline

His knuckles were raw and when the adrenaline faded, Caleb was left cold with fear rather than hot with rage. It had all been a blur after he opened that door. He hadn’t known what he expected but it wasn’t Reid beaten, stomach down and pinned under some guy. And that guy, Connor, palming his own hard on and working himself into position.

Somehow the worst of it all had been Reid’s face. He was so fucking calm. He just stared back at Caleb, bloody mouth pulling into the faintest of smiles. Somewhere in the beating that followed, after Pogue took Reid away, Connor had said it was just how Reid liked it. Caleb had hesitated on that. What did he know about how Reid liked things? The idea made him sick—that Reid enjoyed being abused—that other men had treated him like that—but Tyler had taken the bat to Connor’s leg and called him on the lie. Tyler would know all of Reid’s secrets. There was nothing too shameful to be passed between them. Caleb envied that then. Envied someone actually knowing Reid.

It had hurt some part of him to realize that someone like Connor could have known his brother better than he did. To know that Reid would rather live with that guy than come home with him.

He found Pogue in the corridor of the hospital, reaching him just as he finished talking to a doctor. The man left Pogue with a slip of paper, pausing to frown at the state of Caleb’s bloodied tshirt and knuckles, before walking away.

“Where is he?” Caleb blurted out the first question he could get out—the one that didn’t feel as world shattering as “Is he okay?”.

Pogue looked him over but said nothing about how he looked and didn’t ask if Connor got what he deserved. The answer would have been no. Connor was still alive. “In there,” he said, gesturing to the room beside him. “Trying to charm a nurse into blowing him and high as a fucking kite.” He waved the paper the doctor had given him at Caleb. “Doc suggested someone else being in charge of his prescription.” He laughed a little but looked worn despite the gesture. “You’d think he actually knew him.”

Caleb nodded and finally dragged in a deep breath. “He’s all right.”

“Couple busted ribs and a fractured collar. Doc said he needs to take it easy for a month or so. You know, to keep one of those ribs from stabbing him in the lung.” He didn’t sound amused. “He needs to stay with us,” Pogue added, voice dropping.

Caleb understood what he meant. If only one of them could live at the house—it _needed_ to be Reid. He wouldn’t argue. He hated himself for not leaving earlier so Reid would follow Tyler home weeks ago.

They both looked up when a cute nurse came out of the room. He cheeks were pink with a blush, dress a little eschew, lips swollen from kissing and wearing a wide guilty smile. She looked caught when they both looked at her. Caleb rolled his eyes and caught the door before it closed, plunging into the room.

“Po, maybe we should steal this thing,” Reid said. The nurse had managed to talk him into a wheelchair, no doubt the hospital policy in action. He looked up, saw Caleb, and his grin melted away.

Reid looked him over, managed to look unimpressed, and then lifted an eyebrow. “Did Connor survive?” he asked deadpan. His arm was in a sling, probably to keep him from pulling at that fractured collar, and his naked chest was colored in blotchy dark bruises. Caleb couldn’t see his shirt anywhere and guessed they’d actually cut it off him. His cheek was bruised and one eye was red where it should have been white.

Caleb felt his resolve to be apologetic and understanding slip away. “You worried about him?”

Reid didn’t flinch, instead locking the break on his wheelchair. “I heard he hit Baby Boy. I’m just curious.”

“He’s alive. But Baby Boy might have broken his leg,” Caleb clarified and saw the flash of a smirk in the corner of Reid’s mouth. It eased some anxious part of his soul. He wasn’t sure what he’d have done if Reid actually liked Connor—still. “You should come home,” he blurted out before cringing and dragging his fingers through his short, dark hair. “I can move out if—”

“No. That’s fine. I’ll move in,” he said casually and Caleb was sure he would have shrugged if he hadn’t busted most of the parts of him that made shrugging possible.

Caleb nodded slowly. He should have left then but he didn’t. “I just have a question…”

“Fuck. No,” Reid complained in a heave and a wince at the effort. “I said I’d come back. Just fucking shut up and leave it alone, all right?”

Caleb bit back with urge to fight, nodding tensely. “Yeah. Fine.”

Reid groaned and stood up. Caleb hated how much pain rippled through him at the gesture. “Fuck it. Fine. What is it?”

Caleb hesitated. Was he really going to risk wrecking this? Of course, he was. “When I came in to the apartment…”

“Uhuh…”

“Did you know I was coming?”

Reid’s cheek lifted, livid with expression even when bruised and half swollen. “What? How would I know?”

“It’s just…” Caleb exhaled and had to resist the urge to look away. He couldn’t risk missing any moment of truth on his brother’s face. “You looked…calm. Like you knew what was coming and you just…didn’t care.”

Reid blinked at him for a second and then actually relaxed. “That’s it? That’s your question?” He sounded unimpressed. “I’ve been beaten up before, man.”

Caleb almost stopped breathing. His mind reeled. “Beaten up?” he repeated, utterly dumbfounded. That wasn’t what happened. Maybe that was how it started. Obviously, Reid had been holding his own for a while in that fight—based on the state of Connor before Caleb even touched him—but Reid hadn’t just been beaten up. “That asshole was going to rape you, Reid.” He saw the shock and then fury burn in those blue eyes. Strange, how they could burn even without magic behind them. He swung the arm not in the sling so fast Caleb couldn’t even dodge. Knuckles cut across his cheek and knocked him back against the door.

“Shit!” Reid hissed in pain, shaking his bandaged hand, knuckles bleeding through the gauze. “Do I look like some damsel to you? Did you see me crying and begging him to stop?”

Caleb licked the blood in the corner of his mouth, unable to look away from Reid now. He was totally serious. Caleb pushed off the door to tower over him again. He hadn’t been crying or begging. Would he really not have? Even if they hadn’t shown up when they had? “Has it happened before?”

“Has what happened before?” Reid shouted back, lip curled to bare those slightly elongated canines of his. He paced the small room and Caleb realized he was blocking the door.

“Have you been…” He hesitated at the warning glare in Reid’s eye. “Has that happened before?”

“No, you dick! Get away from me!” Reid snapped but Caleb heard the unspoken ‘but’ at the end of that sentence.

“But it’s gotten out of hand like that before? You’ve had boyfriends that knocked you around? Guys that tried to jump you and… fuck you?” He picked his words as carefully as he could.

Reid was still pacing, looking more uncomfortable but also like he’d never really thought about it this way before. “I always hit them back!” he defended but he was starting to sound tired and unhappy rather than angry. He stopped pacing and took a breath, staring at some spot on the wall hard. “Fuck.” He shook the hand he’d hit Caleb with again. “It never got that far, okay? So stop talking about it.”

Caleb nodded slowly. It would never have gotten that far before because he’d been able to use to make it stop—to make it all go away. “I’m sorry.” It came out and Reid looked back at him for the first time since he’d clocked him. “I should have been there. Pogue should have been there.” If they’d been looking out for him the last few years, they would have seen the danger of the guys Reid liked to hang out with. They would have laid down laws with his boyfriends to keep them from getting out of hand.

Reid curled his lip in a halfhearted sneer. “It’s not your job to—”

“If what happened to you, happened to Tyler,” Caleb pointed out quickly, to give him the same perspective so he’d know what he meant. Reid needed perspective if you wanted him to get feelings. Caleb remembered at least that much from when they were teens.

Reid’s jaw flexed and Caleb was sure the bruise on his cheek darkened. “In that case, you really fucked up,” the blond finally said, the smallest smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Caleb huffed out a laugh, bitter but tired, and nodded. “I did. Forgive me?”

Reid shrugged and then cringed, hissing out a breath. “Sure. I mean, you did beat the guy up, right? So you didn’t totally fuck up. Think if he’d actually broken off a piece of my sweet ass? You’d feel real bad.” He smiled then, dark and just as tired as Caleb felt.

Caleb cringed but nodded, deciding he deserved it. “I would have, yeah. But so would Connor.”

Reid smiled wide. “Yeah, I’ll admit, I kept my cool because I knew one of you would kill him if he killed me.” He nudged his chin at the door behind Caleb, still not comfortable enough with him to close in on his personal space and push him out of the way. But for the first time in years, Caleb could imagine them getting back to that place. “Chair.” He nudged his chin at the wheelchair behind Reid.

Reid didn’t look back at it. “Come on. I can walk fine. I’ve been on more drugs and managed not to fall down before.”

Caleb frowned at that but countered, “If you walk out that door, you’re just giving Po an excuse to carry you.”

Reid considered his choices for a second before letting out a string of curses and sitting himself in the chair. “Your both assholes,” he complained while Caleb held the door and he wheeled himself out into the hall.

In the hall, Pogue was waiting with Tyler. Reid immediately pulled Baby Boy into the chair with him. Tyler expertly managed to sit in his lap without leaning into his chest and Pogue took over pushing the chair. Reid grabbed Tyler’s chin to look at his face, frowning hard. “What a son of a bitch!” He looked at that bruise on Tyler’s cheek with his blood red eye like it was a knife wound. “I hope you did break his leg!”

“I did,” Tyler promised, only a little smug.

“Someone has to stop at the pharmacy for Reid’s meds.”

“Ooooh. What do I get? Can I have them on ice cream like sprinkles?”

“I’ll pick them up,” Caleb took the prescription from Pogue.

It was morning when they came out of the hospital and Reid cringed at the day, suddenly feeling the weight of his exhaustion. “Baby Boy, will you go with and get me ice cream?”

Tyler laughed, climbing off the chair when they got to the car. “Yeah, but no one’s letting you eat your meds like sprinkles,” he reminded. Reid was only half aware of the hand that held his elbow when he stood up until he swayed and it was that hand that kept him upright. He turned, expecting to whisper a thank you to Tyler, but found Caleb standing next to him. His meds were really kicking in now. Somehow Caleb helped him into Pogue’s truck without it looking like he helped all that much at all. He sat there until the doors closed and he was alone with Pogue.

“Don’t let him come home with me,” Reid whispered, watching the smears of colors outside.

Pogue looked at him before looking at the road again. He smiled a little, realizing his brother was more high than not at this point. “What?”

“Po…Promise. Don’t let Tyler leave with me.”

Pogue stopped smiling. “You’re not leaving. You’re coming home.”

Reid thought he nodded but he didn’t. “I know. But eventually…It just doesn’t go right with me. You know that. There’s something…” His mouth pinched. “Don’t let him follow me next time. He followed me and you followed Caleb.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “You were right to follow him. I shouldn’t have blamed you. Just promise you won’t let Tyler follow me again…He deserves better.”

Pogue sighed, reaching to the side to bury fingers in his brother’s pale hair. “How about I just don’t let you run next time?”

Reid huffed a laugh that ended too quick to be whole when he fell asleep. Pogue let his fingers linger in his hair and when they got to the house he carried him in—not to Reid’s room, but to his own. He put him on the bed and crawled in next to him.


	8. Car Confessions

“So, is that the kind of guy he usually dates?” Caleb asked in the car, Tyler beside him holding a bag of junk food and prescription pain killers.

Tyler looked surprised and then tried not to smile. “I don’t know if I’d call it dating…” He almost laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him actually go on a date. Sometimes he stays with the same person for a while though.”

Caleb squeezed the steering wheel and nodded. Tyler would know all there was to know about Reid, wouldn’t he? “And they’re usually assholes?”

Tyler looked less amused and more annoyed then. “Always.” He paused, about to say more, and then considered Caleb. His brother tensed beside him, realizing that the youngest was trying to decide if what he wanted to say was a secret. It didn’t come naturally though—keeping secrets from his brothers. “I asked him about it once,” Tyler continued, deciding that there weren’t secrets between them, just things not yet said. “He thinks he’d fuck up. He said good people deserve to be with good people. And a bunch of self-deprecating shit. He was pretty wasted at the time. But…”

Tyler looked out the window at something beyond the moving streets, at something in his past. “I never asked him about it again because when he looked at me after he said it…It was like he hadn’t seen me. Not like he didn’t know who I was or anything dumb like that. But like he hadn’t realized why he messed around with assholes before I asked. And what that meant for us. And I never asked him about it again because I was afraid…Because I _knew_ , that he’d leave me.” Tyler looked at Caleb, something angry there in his eyes. “I think if he hadn’t been so drunk that night that he forgot how he got home, he would have left in the morning because he really thinks he’s a fuck up.” Tyler smiled, bitter. “And he totally is, but he’s my fuck up.” His smile faded. “He should have been _our_ fuck up.”

Caleb sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

Tyler scoffed and looked out the window again. “You should try saying that to him.”

“I have!” Caleb looked at his brother in disbelief before returning his gaze to the road. “I’ve apologized a hundred times. He won’t listen.”

Tyler shrugged, either he didn’t believe him or he just wasn’t impressed. “What did you say to him?”

“What? I asked him to move back to the house. I said I’d move out if he wanted but he—”

“No.” Tyler huffed out a breath and shook his head. “Not back at the hospital. What did you say to him back then. Back when you fell apart.” Tyler shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “He’d only ever say that you believed Sarah over him. That you thought he was a liar.”

Caleb nodded slowly. “That’s what happened.” God, he wished that’s all he said.

Tyler laughed, short and loud. “Liar.”

Caleb sighed.

“Do you want to fix things or…” Tyler hesitated, swallowing hard as the idea seemed to hit him for the first time. “Or are you just trying to keep us around while we can’t use because you’re our brother? Is the plan to go back to the way things were after?” Tyler was watching him. He’d never considered the possibility before that the falling out might have been what Caleb wanted. Reid was volatile, more so in love than in anything else. Maybe he’d been the one that went too far.

“Stop it,” Caleb snapped as though he could hear those thoughts, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “Of course I want to fix it. I want to put us back together. I just… You know how he is.” He shook his head because that sounded like a shitty excuse. “I’ve tried.”

Tyler nodded slowly. “All right. Then tell me what you said. Do you remember what it was about?”

“I remember the exact words,” he confessed in a whisper. He didn’t want to say them again. He didn’t want to admit them to Baby Boy too. He’d told Pogue a couple weeks after the falling out. He’d been sure Pogue would leave him too then but he hadn’t. He hadn’t talked to him for a month but he hadn’t left either.

“If you tell me, I might be able to help—”

“You’re a liar and a slut and I hate you. I’ve always hated you. You’re not my brother. You’re not my friend. You’re not even worth fucking.” He still remembered the look on Reid’s face the first time he said it— _screamed_ it. It had been so gratifying at first, that look of complete shock, of confusion and disbelief and hurt. And then his features had rippled with agony. His mouth had opened and he inhaled like Caleb had punched him in the gut. There were tears in his eyes, actual tears, in Reid Garwin’s beautiful blue eyes. And he’d put them there with words alone. No amount of abuse could have done that. No amount of physical pain could have made him look that broken.

“Well, shit.” Tyler exhaled in a gust, blinking out the window at the front of the house just as they parked in the driveway.

“Yeah.” Caleb grabbed the bag off his lap and slid out of the car. “I know.”

Tyler hopped out of the car and jogged to catch him before the door, grabbing his arm to pull him to a stop. “And… You guys never. I mean. Reid never said anything about you two having messed around so I just assumed you hadn’t… fucked.” He tried to find the best word, face scrunching because he was a hundred-percent sure that wasn’t it.

Caleb shook his head. “No. I mean, we were usually fighting or I was dating someone back then. And sometimes the fighting turned into making out but I never let it get farther than that. I didn’t want it to be like that...” He shifted uncomfortably, looking around the afternoon street like someone might see his confession or maybe feel the years of regret on him and press their faces to their windows. No one did, of course.

Tyler stared at him for a handful of seconds before his face pulled into a smile and he let out a breath, clapping him on the shoulder. “Shit.”

Caleb groaned in annoyance at his brother’s amusement and marched into the house. “I know.”

* * *

Reid woke slowly. With a shiver and then with a gasp. His eyes shot open and his hand shot down, fingers relaxing as soon as they were buried in familiar hair. Pogue hummed around hiss cock, making his whole body start to arch beneath him. One long arm stretched up Reid’s side from below, gently but firmly holding him down. Reid might have protested if his cracked ribs weren’t already aching.

He looked down once to see that blond head moving up and down slowly over his hips, his pants pushed down just enough to give Pogue access to his sex. He moaned and dropped his head back against the pillow, staring at the ceiling with glassy eyes. He’d never been good at staying still. His whole body shook in the effort not to writhe, not to roll his hips up into Po’s mouth or flip him over and try to ride him. His breath came faster, more ragid, occasionally accompanied with a hiss of pain. But Pogue didn’t stop, not even at those little sounds, arm just holding his good side firmer to keep him as still as possible. He knew Reid well enough to know that stopping because he might be hurt, would only drive the smaller blond mad.

Reid let go of Pogue’s hair to twist his fingers in the covers instead, trying to anchor himself. For the first time he realized this wasn’t his room. His bed was still just a naked mattress surrounded by boxes. No. Everything here smelt like Pogue. It was warm and messy and safe. How long had it been since he’d been in one of Pogue’s rooms?

His neck arched because his body couldn’t, vision blurring and mouth opening wider. “Po.” He exhaled, eyes glassy but still trying to warn him. “Po!” he ground out when he came. Pogue’s arm flexed, straining to hold him down when he did.

For what felt like whole minutes, Reid could only shiver and moan. He felt Pogue moving, pulling his pants back up and carefully climbing up the bed to lay next to him. Reid reached to the side with the arm not in a sling against his chest, palming Po through the front of his jeans. He moaned and smiled, but shook his head, rubbing his face into the side of Reid’s—the side not all swollen and bruised. “No,” Pogue whispered, voice husky. Reid knew that sound and felt the evidence of his arousal against his palm.

He huffed a laugh. “No?” Reid raised an eyebrow, still palming him.

“Still haven’t figured out the logistics of fucking you yet…” Pogue admitted. “Pretty sure you’ll end up with a rib in your lung.”

Reid snorted a laugh, surprised when pain had him choking it back. Fuck, he really was a mess this time. Not having magic was turning out to suck. “You’re flattering yourself.” Reid still pressed, never one to get and not give. At least, not with his brothers. He pulled open the front of Pogue’s jeans with expert fingers and reached in, stroking him out. Pogue moaned against the side of his mouth, shivering.

“Reid.” He tried to shake his head again but the smaller blond was already pumping him against his side. He nodded instead. This was okay. As long as he didn’t try to climb on top of him today, they’d be all right. Pogue moaned again when he thought about it though, about Reid straddling his hips. About his cock buried deep in him and watching him bounce. His breath caught in his throat when he came, body so wound that it hadn’t taken long at all. He shuddered and moaned and drew back, ready to look at the mess made between them.

Reid was already smirking, heavy lids closing as the drugs in his system pulled him back toward sleep.

Pogue frowned playfully and sat up. “How the fuck did you managed to only get cum on my shirt?”

Reid shrugged one shoulder, the one without the broken collarbone, and continued to fall asleep.

Pogue laughed lightly and rolled out of bed. “Asshole.” He walked across the dark room, pulling off his shirt and bundling it up before dumping it in the hamper. He heard the front door downstairs and voices. He paused, hesitating to leave Reid. He was already asleep, chest rising in even slow breaths and hair across his battered cheek. He opened his door but waited there, leaned against the frame, until Tyler came up.

The youngest had a paper bag from the drugstore. Pogue frowned a little. “Don’t show him where his meds are. You know how he gets.” He suggested, voice quiet so as not to wake Reid.

Tyler raised and eyebrow and scrunched his cheek. “The fuck you think you’re talking to? They’re already hidden.” He shook the bag. “This is all candy, chips, and lube.” He smiled and walked passed Pogue into the dark room, dumping the bag and his jacket on the floor. Pogue stood there a moment longer to watch him step out of his shoes and crawl onto the bed.


	9. Memories

_"Who the hell do you think you are?” Caleb shouted, shoving the other teen back a step._

_Reid smiled for the anger of his brother, blue eyes flaring. Caleb had never understood it. It was like the angrier he got, the happier Reid was about it. It only pissed him off more. This time, Reid had managed to get them kicked out of one of the only bars that let the high schoolers slip in. Pogue was taking a very drunk Tyler home and Caleb was stuck behind the shack of a building giving Reid another lecture. Why was he always the one stuck in this position? Why couldn’t Reid just grow up? All he ever did was cause trouble._

_The blond came at him, shoving him back. His eyes flared black to put an extra pow behind that lunge. Caleb’s back hit the wall hard, teeth mashing and his own eyes turning dark._

_“I think I’m Reid-fuckin-Garwin!” the teen howled with too much delight, arms spread and hips swaying when he stepped back. His head tipped to one side, eyes like a damned demon, beckoning his brother to show him otherwise._

_It always ended up like this between them. Reid got right in under Caleb’s skin and drove him to lose control in ways he couldn’t prepare for. He always told himself, between their fights, that next time he wouldn’t let it happen. Next time he wouldn’t lose his cool._

_His teeth were mashed so hard his jaw hurt, his body pushing off the wall and throwing knuckles into that beautiful face. Their fights always got physical. Caleb liked to blame it on Reid. He was always physical, wasn’t it? He was always touching people—good or bad. There was no middle ground with him. There was no living with Reid without loving or hating him. They rolled to the ground. Those fists curled in the front of Caleb’s shirt and he pounded his fist down into his brother’s face again. Could he really beat Reid into being safer? Into not getting into fights or starting trouble or fucking the wrong people? What a damned hypocrite he was._

_His arm pulled back, knuckles busted and bloody, breath heaving from his chest. He was about to bring it down again when he caught a flicker of that face below him. Lips curled just slightly in a smile, blue eyes hazy, and those hands still tangled in the front of his shirt, holding on rather than pushing him away._

_Caleb hissed out a breath and fell back, kicking at the ground to get away from Reid—away from who he became with him. He panted for air, staring up at the dark sky. It had been like this between them for years. They’d gotten along well enough when they were kids but something had changed when they became teens. He wanted to blame Reid. He was always starting shit and picking fights and doing everything he could to drive him nuts._

_He closed his eyes when he heard Reid struggling to roll over, coughing and spitting up blood. Caleb sighed and let his power shiver out, healing his brother. He expected Reid to crawl to his feet, say something shitty, and storm away. But instead, he crawled over to him. His eyes opened suddenly when the younger teen crawled ontop of him, straddling him. Pale blond hair brushed Caleb’s face when Reid leaned over him, hand on his chest, eyes not quite meeting his gaze. Caleb lie there frozen, one hand on Reid’s hip when he kissed him._

_It was soft at first and Caleb’s mind reeled. He sucked at his lower lip gently, kissed him again, and then that tongue ran along the seam of his lips and Caleb shuddered, kissing him back—all but devouring his mouth. His hands moved up his sides, one lost into the back of his hair and cupping his skull. Reid squirmed on top of him, wiggling, and Caleb rolled his hips up, moaning. Soon that kiss was full of passion and teeth and they were fighting again in a new way. Two sets of hands roamed and bruised, each searching or maybe trying to win something._

_Almost as soon as it started, it ended. Caleb shoved Reid off and climbed to his feet, staggering for the speed of it. He panted for air, taking a step back and staring down at the blond teen on the ground in the dark. Caleb took another step back and shook his head. How would this turn out? If he didn’t like himself after a normal fight with Reid, how would he like himself after this? How far would it go? Would it be another fight? Would there be knuckles and blood in this too?_

_He left before he could find out._

_And everything got worse after that. Reid became a dedicated pain in his side and a few weeks later he’d meet Sarah. The end was around the corner and he couldn’t help but wonder, how differently their lives would have gone if he hadn’t rejected him that night. If he’d understood what he was rejecting._

* * *

Caleb sat in the corner of the couch, laptop on one knee and eyes fixed to the screen. He’d stopped reading the text at least five minutes ago, lost in thought. He’d spent a lot of time that summer thinking about his relationship with Reid and how they’d ended up estranged. True to his word, the blond had stayed at the house with them after his trip to the hospital. He’d even let Pogue and Tyler fuss over him—so long as they remembered to give him pain meds regularly.

His bruises had faded and his collar was almost healed. He didn’t even wear the sling anymore.

“Where are you going?”

Caleb looked up, over the back of the couch when he heard Tyler’s panic pitched voice.

Reid groaned. He was dressed to go out, keys in hand. “I don’t know, Baby Boy. Out. I’ll be back later.”

Caleb looked down at his screen again. Tyler had been doing everything he could to keep Reid in this summer. It had worked for a month or so but then the blond couldn’t be contained any longer. Tyler usually followed along when he couldn’t stop him. From the sound of Reid’s complaining when they got back, Tyler was actively trying to put a bucket of icewater on any fun the blond tried to kick up.

“But I have plans! I can’t go—” Tyler started.

Reid spun on him in the hallway, grabbing his face between both hands and making sure he stared deep into those eyes. “I know what you’re doing. Stop it. I’m going out. I’m going to have fun. I’ll come back.”

Tyler looked honestly freaked out and that had Caleb putting his laptop aside. Did the youngest think Reid was going to take off for good? He’d thought he was stalking him to keep him out of trouble.

“But…” Tyler was left stammering in the hall.

Reid cut a line for the door, not even looking at Caleb as he passed him. That was how it had been this summer. They didn’t talk. They barely acknowledged one another.

“Can I come?” Caleb asked, surprising even himself.

Reid almost missed the doorknob. He blinked and those blue eyes looked honestly confused.

Caleb rolled to his feet and rounded the couch, tracking him into the hall. He pulled his keys from the dish by the door. “My car is better than baby boy’s anyway.” He chanced a smile and it became real when Reid looked even more confused.

The blond pressed his features into a skeptical frown. “I want to drive.”

Caleb nodded with a shrug and held out his keys.

Reid flicked the ones he was holding once, like a cat twitching its tail, and then tossed them into the bowl and snatched Caleb’s from his fingers. He pushed the door open and Caleb followed him down the path. “I’m going to a club. Loud music. Lots of dancing and drinking. Maybe even blow jobs in a dirty bathroom.”

Caleb nodded even though Reid was ahead of him and couldn’t see. “Sounds good.”

Reid shot him another skeptical look but unlocked the car and slid into the front seat.

They drove in silence for at least ten minutes. Reid drove fast. Caleb suspected he drove faster to try to get a reaction out of him. He smiled a little and looked out the window. Some things never changed. He wished he’d realized back then, what he suspected now—that all those teen years of Reid actively trying to piss him off and mess with his relationships had been his way of expressing interest. He wished that was still the reason Reid tried to upset him. He wished Reid still wanted his attention the way he used to.

The club he picked was everything he’d promised. Packed from wall to wall with dancing bodies soaked in liquor and drowning in music. Reid cut a line straight for the bar, started with two shots and then sunk into the throbbing dance floor. Caleb followed casually. He lingered at the bar, nursing a beer and watching the blond dance. People gravitated to him, even without magic. He was wild and free and they could smell it on him. Caleb couldn’t help but think he looked like a god in a place like this, surrounded by worshipers.

A pretty brunet found her way to Caleb’s side and drew him from the bar to the middle of the room. He danced with many but his eye always roamed back to find Reid. Once or twice he caught those icy blue eyes looking back at him. When he saw a guy leading Reid off toward the bathrooms, he almost didn’t follow. He almost tried not to think about it. But why? Why wouldn’t he think about someone being with Reid? Why was it so frustrating to know that others got to touch him? That others didn’t pull away the way he had?

He unraveled the brunet from his side and wove through the crowd, to the dark back hall full of lovers with no thought but the mouth attached to theirs. A few men stumbled out of the bathroom, obviously being kicked out. Caleb caught the door before it closed and slid in to the evacuated room of tiles and shabby lighting. The music was in here too, dulled by walls but still filling the space and throbbing in their skin.

Reid was there, on the other side of the room, back to the wall and head tipped high. His mouth opened when the guy on his knees in front of him wrapped his lips around his sex. With the music, it was like he had been muted. Caleb watched him, sure he was moaning, but he couldn’t see it. Those lashes lifted and icy blue was hazed by lust, looking back at him across the room. His cheeks were flushed and mouth still open. His fingers buried in the back of the stranger’s hair, head bouncing against his hips.

Caleb moved closer, eyes locked on those blue ones. He stopped just behind the other guy, hand pressing to the tiles near Reid’s head. He leaned closer, until he could hear the sounds he was making. God, he wished he could take back what he’d done to them. He wished he could take back the words that caused so much pain and drove them apart. He wished he’d never run from Reid. “You’re a liar,” Caleb said it again, voice full of regret and lust and something more. Those icy eyes flared, staring back at him, mouth still working sounds with his hips rocking into someone else’s mouth. “You’re a liar and a slut and I hate you,” Caleb said the words that had been the end of them. “But I also love you. You’ve always been my brother. You’ve always been my friend. You’ve always been mine and I’ve always been yours.”

Reid shivered, mouth trembling and eyes unblinking. They were so close. He was so close. His nerves were on fire and he suddenly wished this stranger from the club wasn’t between them.

Caleb’s forehead touched his, dark eyes staring deep into blues. “Forgive me.”

Reid clicked his teeth, trying to hold back his pleasure, trying to find that old anger and fury but it wasn’t there. All he felt was warmth and want. “Fuck.” He exhaled and then latched on to the back of Caleb’s head, body arching and lips sealing a kiss that hummed with moans when he came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND this is as far as I got in this fic. Hoping to get back into it at least for a few more scenes.


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